Category: Miscellaneous babble

Stolen from Google Gadgets.

Compared to last year, this year’s storm season so far has been a bit of a dud (thank goodness). There’s still two months of the season left to go though. The latest system, TD 9, looks like it will stay out in the Atlantic like Florence, Gordon and Helene did and probably become TS Isaac in a day or two.

THE DEPRESSION IS CURRENTLY SITUATED BETWEEN AN UPPER-LEVEL CYCLONE TO ITS WEST AND A LOW- TO MID-LEVEL RIDGE TO ITS EAST. THE GFS…UKMET… AND NOGAPS MODELS ALL TAKE THE CYCLONE AROUND THE WESTERN PERIPHERY OF THE RIDGE…THEN ACCELERATE THE SYSTEM AT DAYS THREE THROUGH FIVE NORTHEASTWARD AHEAD OF A DEEP-LAYER TROUGH FROM THE WEST. THE OFFICIAL TRACK FORECAST FOLLOWS CLOSELY WITH A CONSENSUS OF THE AFOREMENTIONED GUIDANCE.

Lest people start getting complacent with the last few storms steering away from the east coast and fall weather upon us, this is from this morning’s Tropical Weather Outlook.

A LARGE TROPICAL WAVE…ACCOMPANIED BY A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE…IS LOCATED ABOUT 600 HUNDRED MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF THE SOUTHERNMOST CAPE VERDE ISLANDS. SOME GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT THE SYSTEM IS POSSIBLE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS IT MOVES TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST OR NORTHWEST AT AROUND 15 MPH.

I get to see the Meducare helicopter take off and land on a fairly regular basis. The helicopter comes in, lands on the helipad at the top of the parkade I park in and the patient unloaded and taken down to an ambulance waiting on the ground for the short trip over to the ER. Signal 46 has a fascinating entry about how things work on the other end when they’re picking up a patient that most people never hear about.
So cool.

My friends and family always seem to be impressed with my ability to pick great fruit. To them it’s some kind of magical skill. To me, it’s just three simple rules. Follow them and anybody can pick great fruit.

1. It should look good
2. It has to smell like something. Preferably like the fruit it’s supposed to be.
3. It should be heavy for its size

Rule 1 is a bit of a no-brainer. If it looks good (not too bruised, good colour, feels firm, no mushy spots, etc), then it’s a good candidate to start with.

Rule 2 is also something of a no-brainer. If you’re looking for strawberries, you better be smelling strawberries. Don’t grab the container that doesn’t smell like anything. If you grab a cantaloupe, it should smell like a cantaloupe, not dirt. It should be a good smell too, not moldy or nasty smelling. Of course this rule won’t apply to everything. Bananas usually don’t smell like much until they’re starting to get black spots (a little too ripe for my taste at that stage). Watermelons fall into this small subgroup too. For those, there’s Rule 3.

Rule 3 is one that some people can’t seem to quite get. It’s simple really. Fruits are made up mostly of water. A fruit that’s heavy for its size is going to have a high water content (i.e. be very juicy), and will probably be a pretty good one to bring home. One that feels too light on the other hand is probably old and lost most of its water content. Ever grab a navel orange that felt a little on the light side? When you bite into a piece, it’s all dried out and not juicy at all I bet. Same thing with peaches.

Keep these in mind next time you’re shopping for some tasty fruit snacks. I bet you’ll pick up some good ones.